Xiaomi is Reportedly Seeking a Minimum Valuation of $50 Billion in an Upcoming IPO

Xiaomi was once crowned as the most valuable startup, in fact, the company was hailed as a tech unicorn once it breached the $1 Billion mark. Currently, the Chinese smartphone manufacturers are in talks with investments banks in order to prepare for a public offering. The company is apparently looking out to raise at least $5 billion coming from a valuation of $50 billion.

As per reports from Bloomberg, Xiaomi is likely to choose Hong-Kong as its destination for the IPO. Previously Xiaomi had raised money at $46 Billion valuations in 2014. That being said the $50 billion mark is still half of what some of the executives were hoping for. Xiaomi has returned to its aggressive self this year and has had some hits in the Indian market.

The company that once swore by Online retail channels is now ready to explore offline retail channels in India. As per the reports, Xiaomi is likely to rake in $5 billion from the IPO and this is most likely to fuel its future expansion plans. On a related note, Xiaomi was recently ranked as one of the topmost smartphone manufacturer (market share). An earlier report had hinted at a possibility of an IPO in the second half of 2018.

Xiaomi rose to its peak in 2014 when It was hailed as an upcoming $100 Billion company. However, two years later Xiaomi struggled to fight its competitors and in 2017, Jei Lun Xiaomi CEO admitted that the company grew too fast and thus the challenges only increased. In 2016 the company struggled to match pace with Huawei Technologies and Oppo and thus ended up ranking fifth in Chinese phone shipments in Q1(IDC). That said the company seems to be back on track in 2017 with renewed strategies and healthy growth.

Xiaomi started operation in 2010 and soon started grabbing eyeballs with its value for money proposition. With the hype in place, Xiaomi believed only in flash sales and scarce supply made it an instant favourite in the grey market. The Beijing based company successfully breached the $1 billion revenue mark in India for 2016.

Mahit Huilgol Senior Author Mahit Huilgol is a Mechanical Engineering graduate and is a Technology and Automobile aficionado. He ditched the Corporate boardroom wars in favor of technology battleground. Also, a foodie by heart and loves both the edible chips and the non-edible silicon chips.